Halloween Activity Books

Oh goodie, goodie, goodie! Halloween is not as big in this country as it is in mine, but at times, the English make an effort. So I was walking in one of the local shops yesterday when I saw these Halloween activity books. I didn't buy them, although I was very tempted. I think Wolfie might already be a tad old for it, but I might try to convince him all the same. I love doing activity books with him. And, I know you cannot judge a book by its cover, even a children book, but I'd buy them for the cover all the same. What do you think?

Un chemin de fer à Val-Jalbert?

Mon père a pris cette photo à Val-Jalbert.La patente à gosse que vous voyez est, je crois, une draisine. C'est le mot du jour. J'en ai vu par le passé, mais je ne ne savais pas le nom jusqu'à ce que je fasse une recherche hier. Enfin bref, s'il y a une draisine sur des rails, c'est qu'il devait y avoir un chemin de fer, c'est donc qu'il y avait un train qui passait par Val-Jalbert. Enfin, qu'on me dise si j'ai tort. Si c'est le cas, le village est encore plus cool que je pensais.

Daunt Books Abroad

 You may remember that back in June, I blogged about the bookshop chain Daunt Books. Well, I saw someone carrying one of their bags again. Not in London, like last time, not in England in fact, but in Austria. In om Salzburg, to be precise. It was most likely a British tourist, but I thought it was nice to see it there. I know it was only a bag, nevertheless it's  nice that this small chain of indie bookshops is thriving, thriving enough to see their brand even when we are abroad. That's encouraging for literature and book lovers like myself.

Les récoltes du marché

Photo prise par ma mère au Grand Marché de Québec. Quand je vois des légumes comme ça dans un marché local, c'est automatique, je me rappelle du temps où on allait les chercher dans le jardin de mon oncle. Un autre rituel qui me rappelle le retour de l'automne. 

I'm a Cryptkeeper

 You might have noticed another badge on the sidebar of this blog, a badge I also add on this post. As the Countdown to Halloween is getting closer and closer, I have of course decided to become a Cryptkeeper again. I am a little bit nervous this year: as I registered to the countdown a bit late, Vraie Fiction is not on the blog roll yet. Not as I am typing it. But otherwise, check this space for a lot of Halloween stuff, most of the time related to scary stories.

Arc-en-ciel

 Mon père m'a envoyé des photos d'un arc-en-ciel qu'ils ont eu récemment. C'est drôle, parce qu'on en a eu un aussi il y a quelques jours, à peu près à la même date. Enfin bref, c'est joli.

Blood Moon

Tongith is a full moon, the one for September, and it is also a Blood Moon. I know it was a full moon (I do because I'm a werewolf, no just kidding), but I did not know it was a Blood Moon. My wife informed me and, at her suggestion, we all went out when evening had started falling to see the Blood Moon. We could not even see the moon. All the same, it was nice being outside when the sun was falling down. It is a simple pleasure we need to enjoy more often. Oh, and a question about full moons: are there any "normal", regular full moons? It seems that each and every one of them is a Blood Moon, or a Strawberry moon, or a Blue Moon, or a Whatever Moon.

Thé et calembour atroce

 J'ai pensé à ça ce soir, et ça me trottait dans la tête: ma femme, bien qu'anglaise, n'aime pas le thé. Je sais, c'est ironique, dans une nation de buveurs de thé. Elle le sait depuis qu'elle en a essayé enfant (on essaie d'inculquer de bonnes habitudes aux petites Anglaises, mais ça ne fonctionne pas toujours). Alors j'ai fait cette constatation: Carrie a toujours détesté le thé. On peut même dire qu'elle l'a toujours détesthé. Et oui, je viens de commettre un nouveau calembour atroce.

True scary stories in the library

I took this picture in October last year (I think) in the Marlow Library. The town of Marlow is a lovely place to go to any time of year, but especially round Halloween, when it is really atmospheric and eerie at places. I haven't been there in month, so I don't know if they are already in a spooky mood in its library, but I am and I have started my Halloween reads, which consists of a lot of ghost and horror stories. I don't imit myelf to fiction, but also to alleged real life hauntings and alleged true stories of the supernatural. Not that I believe in them, I am a skeptical person, but they give you a chill nevertheless and can be a great source of inspiration when you try to write horror stories yourself. And there is just something about reading ghost stories in an old library such as the Marlow one.

L'automne à Première Moisson

Photo trouvée sur la page Facebook de Première Moisson. Ils sont en mode automnal et j'en suis heureux. Ils ont pleins de desserts pomme et érable, selon ce que je peux voir. C'est vraiment dommage qu'on n'ait pas un commerce de bouffe avec un état d'esprit pareil.

"Hello Darkness My Old Friend..."

No, no, I'm not speaking about the song. Although yes, I love it. I don't think I shared this meme before on this blog. I have first seen it a few years ago and I loved it. So I am sharing it today. Here darkness is coming around 8:00PM these days, but it's already an improvement. Evening falling earlier and earlier is one of the things I really love about autumn, so I am welcoming this seasonal change. Especially since autumn evenings are so beautiful.

Turbine de Val-Jalbert

Mon père a pris cette photo lors la visite de mes parents au village fantôme (je ne veux pas l'appeler village historique, c'est un village fantôme, bon!) de Val-Jalbert. Parce qu'avant d'être un village fantôme, c'était un village tout ce qu'il y a de plus vivant, dont la vie économique dépendait d'une papeterie. Quand même, la photo ici a quelque chose de spectral. Depuis que je suis enfant, je crois toujours que Val-Jalbert devrait être le lieu d'une histoire d'horreur. Tout y est: un lieu abandonné au milieu de nulle part, plein d'atmosphère, une nature proche et étrangère à la fois, de l'architecture rétro, ainsi qu'une technologie qui paraît maintenant bien impuissante.

Mushrooms Sighting

Two of our neighbours, an Italian couple I blogged about before, have got themselves a brand new lawn. As I walked by their place recently, I saw that it already had mushrooms on it. No dandelions, no daisies, but mushrooms. I don't know if they'd like this sight, but I was quite happy about it. Because mushrooms are one of the signs that autumn is here, or at least on its way. I love to see mushrooms come September. Less so to eat them. But I thought this looked quite nice, soberly elegant.

Des pommes au marché

Je place ici une autre photo prise par ma mère au Grand Marché de Québec, rien que parce que. On y voit des pommes, des tomates et des haricots. Mais ce sont les pommes qui retiennent mon attention. J'adore acheter des pommes dans les marchés, surtout ces temps-ci, parce que c'est le fruit de l'automne.

The Monster Game

I blogged before about All About Monsters, the very popular Usborne book about, well, monsters, mythical as well as cryptids. A lot of emphasis was put on the cryptid ones, actually. When Usborne republished the book, I quickly bought it. But I discovered that one thing in the French translaiton was missing in the original English: the Monster Game. Truly a board game that was made of the last page of the book, especially created, I think, for the French edition. I'm not sure why. The objective of the game was finding evidence for the existence of a lake monster, the Monster of Ellness Lake, basically a thinly disguised Loch Ness. We never played it. The rules were shoddy at best, for one. My brothers and I used the Monster Game, however for a few make belief games set around a lake and involving a cryptid like this one. Our characters explored the lake in a bathyscape, we questioned the locals, etc. It was quite fun. Anyway, I asked my father to send me pictures of the "Great Monster Game", beacause I wanted to share this memory on the blog. And because it might come in handy.

Un bateau dans le parc

Des fois je trouve que mon fils a une enfance plus distrayante que la mienne, rien qu'en allant dans les terrains de jeux dans les parcs. Parce qu'ils n'ont pas que des glissoires et des trapèzes, ils ont aussi parfois, ben, ça. Dans un parc à quelques minutes de chez nous, on trouve ce bateau, qui est un grand succès depuis que Wolfie a deux ans. Et encore, dans les plus grands parcs de la ville, il y a des jeux qui sont des navires et des jonques chinoises. Mais je pense que c'est celui-ci son préféré.

September Bucket List

I found this bucket list online and I thought it looked very nice. There are so many things I want to do this month, only a few of them on that list, so many ways to enjoy this month and my favourite season. Because make no mistake, we are in autumn already. So yes, I want to press leaves in a book, buy a knit piece of clothing (in a thrift or not, try a recipe with apples and go on a walk.

Salon du Livre 2025

Petit rappel que le Salon du Livre du Saguenay Lac-Saint-Jean aura lieu du 25 au 28 septembre. Dans un nouveau lieu et je sais, la bannière est un peu poche cette année. Mais c'est mon salon du livre préféré et j'ai d'excellents souvenirs de mes visites.

"Back to school" tomorrow

 If this pic looks familiar, it is because I shared it last year. It might become a new tradition. If I am sharing these two pages from What to Look For in Autumn, it's because I must have read them a dozen of times this evening. Tomorrow, my son is going to be back to school and I am simply not ready. I think I am dreading it more than he does. He grows up so fast.

Mafalda et la pluie

 J'ai trouvé ce gag sur la page Facebook officielle de Mafalda. Je me sens mélancolique ce soir, alors je partage. Mafalda a le don de nous faire sourire et verser une larme à la fois.